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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Noted Author and Lecturer Thomas Moore Coming to Birmingham, Alabama

By way of announcement, everyone is invited to come hear noted author, Thomas Moore (author of Care of the Soul ).The lecture series will draw upon his new book, A Religion of Ones' Own and will take place in Birmingham, Alabama at the First United Methodist Church downtown: 518 !9th Street North, Birmingham, Alabama (parking available in parking lot and on the street).

The event is jointly sponsored by SPAFER (Southern Progressive Alliance for Exploring Religion) and Friends of Jung South. It's a good price ($50.00 for the weekend, an additional $15.00 if you want professional CEUs) and a good opportunity to meet Thomas Moore.

Here is the flyer, session information continues below

May
2, 2014:

Friday
night - 7 PM until 8 PM:

A
Religion of One's Own

Q
and A from 8 PM until 8:30 PM

Followed
by a reception and Book Signing

May
3, 2014:

Saturday
morning - 9:00 AM:

Shaping
Spiritual Practices into a Religion of One's Own : Taking specific lessons from
Carl G.Jung, Georgia O'Keeffe, Emily Dickinson and Henry David Thoreau in
treating ordinary daily practices as elements in one's own religion.

Monday, April 28, 2014

"Mississippi" is a track from Bob Dylan's 2001 album, "Love and Theft." Here's a little background from Wikipedia:

The title of the album was apparently inspired by historian Eric Lott's book Love & Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class, which was published in 1993. "Love and Theft becomes his Fables of the Reconstruction, to borrow an R.E.M. album title", writes Greg Kot in The Chicago Tribune (published September 11, 2001), "the myths, mysteries and folklore of the South as a backdrop for one of the finest roots rock albums ever made."

'

The Bob Dylan version has apparently been axed, but here is Sheryl Crow's version:

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Since April is National Poetry Month, I am taking time to write some new poems. One day I stopped by the Birmingham Botanical Gardens to walk around and find some inspiration. When I sat down beneath the vines of this pavilion, a poem began to take shape. I scribbled some lines and went home to finish the poem.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Monday, April 24, 1916 was the beginning of the Easter Rising, an armed resistance by the Irish against oppressive British rule. The movement was quickly squashed by the British, but in the aftermath support for an independent Republic of Ireland became more solidified. An article in Wikipedia states: “A few months after the Easter Rising, W. B. Yeats commemorated some of the fallen figures of the Irish Republican movement, as well as expressed his torn emotions regarding these events, in the poem Easter, 1916. Some survivors of the Rising went on to become leaders of the independent Irish state and those who died were venerated by many as martyrs.” (You can read Yeats' poem here)

“The Foggy Dew,” an Irish ballad commemorating the Easter Rising, was written in 1919 by Canon Charles O’Neill, a parish priest from County Down. The song is performed her by Sinead O’Connor with The Chieftains for their album The Long Black Veil.

“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the
disciples did not realize that it was Jesus…When they landed, they saw a fire
of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.” (John 21: 4, 9)

"…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…"

(Matthew 23:37)

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!" (Isaiah 49:15)

"But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother." (Psalm 132:2)

"When Israel was a child, I loved him... I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks, I bent down to them and fed them... How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? .... my compassion grows warm and tender." (Hosea 11:1,4,8)

"For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. She is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty." (Wisdom 7:24)

"In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me”… Then all the disciples deserted him and fled." (Matthew 26: 55, 56)

Monday, April 14, 2014

"Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium is a hymn written by St Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) for the Feast of Corpus Christi . It is also sung on Maundy Thursday,
during the procession from the church to the place where the Blessed
Sacrament is kept until Good Friday. The last two stanzas, called
separately Tantum Ergo, are sung at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The hymn expresses the doctrine of transubstantiation, in which, according to the Roman Catholic faith, the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ."

The beautiful Gregorian chant is performed here for Easter Mass by the Gregorian Choir of Paris.

You may have heard that April is National Poetry Month. Bill Moyers is another one who has be an enthusiastic promoter of the art poetry. How well I remember being enthralled by his interviews with poets and then hearing them read their works in the PBS documentary, "The Language of Life," and later "Fooling with Words." These programs both took place at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. I was so very appreciative of Moyers bringing these events to the living rooms of America by way of the broadcast media. Moyers has also hosted numerous poets on his television broadcasts. Bill Moyers website, Moyers & Company, has posted "Poets in Performance" which features a wonderful array of poets from past programs reading their works.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Ubi Cartitas is taken from the antiphons sung
during the ceremony of the Washing of the Feet at the Mass of the Last Supper
on Holy Thursday. As is the entire Mass of the Last Supper, this hymn is
intimately connected with the Eucharist, and is thus often used during the
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Recent tradition has the first line as
"Ubi caritas et amor" (where charity and love are), but certain very
early manuscripts show "Ubi caritas est vera" (where charity is
true). The current Roman Missal favors this later version, while the 1962 Roman
Missal and classical music favors the former.

This recording is by Octarium. The images that accompany the
song bring home the meaning and hope conveyed by the music. Scroll down to
see an English translation.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Before
we get too far into the month of April, I want to give a plug for National
Poetry Month. I often have poetry on my blog, and try to put a special emphasis
on poetry during the month of April. It was last April that I posted a brief
instructional post on writing haiku, and it generated so much interest that I
started a new weekly feature on the blog that I call Saturday Haiku. This month
I will post a few new poems, and maybe an old poem or two throughout the month.

Today
I would like to call attention to Garrison Keillor's excellent daily
presentation of poetry in his radio program, A Writer's Almanac. It is a
five-minute broadcast that airs on many Public Radio stations and always
presents a poem along with interesting information about poets and writers. It
airs on WUAL 95.1 FM in Tuscaloosa, AL just before 9:00 am. It is a great thing
to hear in the morning, and I always take heart when I catch it on the radio. I
am usually not near a radio at that time of day, but the program can found online at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org. You can also "Like"
The Writer's Almanac on Facebook to have the daily programs appear on your
Facebook page.

Last
week, Keillor had a nice presentation on Robert Frost's life and work. He
mentioned Frost's early days of struggling to earn a living and of his trying
to make a living farming in New England, on a farm his grandfather had bought
for him and his new bride. Keillor states that:

The majority of the
poems from those [first] two books had been written at the farm in Derry, and
some from his third book too. He wrote in a letter: "The core of all my
writing was probably the five free years I had there on the farm. [...] The
only thing we had was time and seclusion. I couldn't have figured on it in
advance. I hadn't that kind of foresight. But it turned out right as a doctor's
prescription."
You can read the entire broadcast, which includes Frost's "A Prayer in Spring" here.

As
Garrison Keillor says as he closes each program, "Be well, do good work,
and keep in touch."

Friday, April 4, 2014

Here's a recipe that was a big hit recently. I got it from a colleague who brought some to work on New Years Day (some of us had to work that day) so that we could have our black-eyed peas for New Year's. I ike it and asked her for the recipe. She wrote out the ingredients on a card with very little instruction (it is a simple recipe, after all). I was going to a gathering and wanted to take a snack for the group. It was on a Friday right in the middle of Lent, and I was wondering what I could prepare that would be simple and vegetarian. That's when I remembered the recipe that I had tucked away in January. I made it for the first time for that gathering. I received many compliments, and the plate was completely empty by the end of the night. I'm including the recipe as delivered with how I executed it in parentheses.